Of course, Willie Nelson is most known for his country music songs, his acting career and he’s even written several books. Even at the age of 86 years old, Nelson still tours around to perform music all around the world, as music is one of his huge passions. Another one of his passions is humanitarian work, which is what he spends some of his time with when he’s not touring and performing.

In 2019, Nelson heard about no less than 70 horses that were planned to go the slaughterhouse to end up at the glue factory.

Willie Nelson is an animal lover and he was absolutely heartbroken when he heard that these 70 elderly horses would know such a tragic ending to their majestic lives. He couldn’t live with that thought and did everything he could to make sure that those 70 horses would end up somewhere safe.

Luckily, Nelson was able to intervene just in time.

The superstar has a perfect new home for these 70 horses, his own ranch! Nelson owns a 700-acre property which he calls “Luck Ranch”, and it’s situated about 30 miles outside of Austin, Texas. You could say that any horse who ends up here can definitely consider themselves quite lucky because Nelson takes extremely good care of them. All of the horses on the ranch were saved from a tragic death or fate, but they’re free, happy and most definitely very lucky! The name of the ranch certainly was well-chosen.

“My horses are probably the luckiest horses in the world,” Nelson said to KAST 12 News. “They get hand-fed twice a day, and they were just ready to go to slaughter is probably the last thing they remembered, so they’re happy horses.”

The musical legend is a huge animal lover, but he has a very special place in his heart for horses, in particular, and has even incorporated it in plenty of his songs.

Aside from saving these 70 mares and stallions, Nelson and his daughter have been fighting to take down slaughterhouses for a while – and they’ve actually won.

“Willie Nelson (Yes, THE Willie Nelson) and his daughter have been trying to close horse slaughterhouses in Texas for many years, and today their efforts and the efforts of everyone who was fighting right alongside them won out! The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that the old law on the Texas books prohibiting the operation of these hideous places is valid—meaning that the two remaining horse slaughterhouse in the state have to close!” PETA stated on their website.

He also wrote a letter to Congress to defend the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act:

”Contrary to what some people are saying, slaughter is not a humane form of euthanasia, and these are not unwanted horses. The treatment of slaughter-bound horses is most often inhumane, and more than 90 percent of those slaughtered are young and in good health. Many are sold to slaughterhouses at closed auctions, while others are stolen pets.”

One thing is for sure: this man is a legend and in more ways than one. He’s saved dozens of horses and takes care of them on his ranch, and has been fighting against these terrible slaughterhouses with success.

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Source: Habit for Horses, KAST 12 News, Country Rebel, PETA